Manchester United are said to be lining up a January move for Napoli centre-back Kalidou Koulibaly.
The 27-year-old Senegalese defender has been in excellent form for the Serie A side this season. His new Napoli manager, Carlo Ancelotti, has gone as far as to say Koulibaly is one of the best centre-backs he has ever coached.
United’s supposed interest in Koulibaly is understandable when you consider Jose Mourinho’s desperation for a new centre-back and the fact that the Napoli man is one of the most highly rated players in his position in Europe.
The problem? Napoli president Aurelio De Laurentiis is as stubborn as ever and, according to the Times, has quoted United a transfer fee of £90 million for Koulibaly.
That figure would, of course, make him the most expensive defender in the history of the game, ahead of £75 million Liverpool defender Virgil van Dijk.
So is he worth the cash? Here are our thoughts.
How good is Kalidou Koulibaly?
Koulibaly has been highly rated for some time but seems to have taken his game to another level across the last season-and-a-half.
Those who regularly consult statistics will know him as a player who consistently figures near or the very top of rankings tables for passes completed. And in Maurizio Sarri, who left Napoli this summer to join Chelsea, Koulibaly found a possession-focused manager tailor-made for his ability on the ball. Last term, he averaged more passes per game than any other defender in Serie A at an accuracy rating of 91%.
It is a record he is currently on track to retain this season and, in Ancelotti, he has a manager who has coached and developed some of the best centre-backs the game has seen in recent years.
On the subject of which Ancelotti said in November: “Sure, [Koulibaly] is among the best I have trained with the likes of Thiago Silva, Sergio Ramos, Nesta, Maldini, Cannavaro, Thuram, Terry, shall I carry on?! At the moment he is certainly among the best in the world.”
Strong, quick and nigh-on peerless in his position with the ball at his feet, Koulibaly seems like the ideal Premier League centre-back on paper.
Former Chelsea manager Antonio Conte is said to have attempted to bring the Napoli star to Stamford Bridge two years ago. Surely there’s only so long Napoli can hold onto a player of Koulibaly’s quality.
How does he compare to the world’s most expensive centre-back?
Koulibaly and Van Dijk, both examples of the complete modern defender in how they blend speed and physicality with technical excellence, went up against each other in the Champions League clash between Napoli and Liverpool in September. The former came out on top on the night and was sublime throughout.
They will meet each other again on Tuesday at Anfield, with the Reds in need of a victory to have any chance of qualifying for the knockout stages.
It will be interesting to see how Koulibaly deals with the likes of Salah, Mane and Firmino with the Anfield crowd behind them.
The comparison shows two defenders who are heavily involved in defending reactively and on the front foot in equal measure. Van Dijk plays more successful passes per game and has been more successful in winning headers while Koulibaly has averaged more tackles, blocks and interceptions.
Both Koulibaly and Van Dijk have, in fact, made more interceptions than anyone in else in their respective teams, highlighting the excellent positional sense possessed by these two elite defenders.
Would Koulibaly thrive at United?
If Ed Woodward does allow Mourinho to throw this amount of money at Napoli for Koulibaly, then the Senegal international will have a lot to consider.
It’s Manchester United, yes. It’s the Premier League, yes. But would this really be the right move at the right time?
United have had such a poor season so far, with star performers Paul Pogba, Romelu Lukaku and David De Gea all below par.
It says a lot that Garth Crooks believes Ashley Young is currently Manchester United’s most influential player. Mourinho has previously expressed his belief that United lack players with the technical ability to play out from the back and would argue that a player like Koulibaly would be the answer to United’s issues, but we’re not so sure.
Will Mourinho get his man?
The big question.
We’d be fairly surprised if Woodward allowed Mourinho to splash £90m on one player seeing as he was so reluctant to allow the United boss to spend big money in the summer.
Mourinho has spent a whopping £392 million since his arrival at Old Trafford, so his argument that Liverpool and City are the only ones spending the big bucks doesn’t really add up.
Even if United did throw this sum of money at Napoli, we wouldn’t be at all surprised to see De Laurentiis find a way to keep hold of Koulibaly, a player he says he has “erected a wall” to keep at the club.
This would be a very difficult transfer to pull off halfway through a season, but it would be interesting to see if Koulibaly pushed for the move if the Red Devils did come in.
Porto centre-back Eder Militao is on United’s centre-back shortlist as a cheaper alternative, according to the aforementioned report. Mourinho’s interest in Koulibaly is something to keep an eye on, but we certainly wouldn’t bank on any deal happening.
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